IOC president Thomas Bach said the PyeongChang Olympics were “very close” to being canceled in a CNN interview published Tuesday.
“For cancellation of the Games, the threshold is not military action,” Bach said, after referencing North Korea’s missile tests and the threat of a military strike. “The threshold is that one country would say we are not going because we do not see there the safety and security of our athletes being guaranteed. There, the discussions were not always very easy, to say it diplomatically.”
Both the PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympics were held without known security disruptions in February and March.